Investigating Challenges, Opportunities And Digital Technologies In The Digital Transformation Of Tourism Industry: The Case Of South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business purposes. The tourism industry has been digitalized by various trends, including mobile integration, artificial intelligence, chatbots, and the integration of the Internet of Things. Digitalization facilitated a series of innovations that contributed to the reshaping of tourism as an industry. This study aims to investigate the challenges, opportunities, and digital technologies in the digital transformation of the tourism industry in south-west Ethiopia. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research approaches with a cross-sectional research design is employed to conduct the study. In order to collect the required data, questionnaires were distributed to utility consumers of tourism services and products, tourism service and product providers, and tourism experts in south-west Ethiopia. Based on the responses obtained, this research thus reveals that tourism actors agreed that a lack of knowledge, a legal framework, or environmental or external infrastructure is perceived by them as a deterministic challenge when it comes to digitalization in the tourism industry in south-west Ethiopia. A detailed discussion about opportunities that were identified by experts within the field is presented with respect to the survey findings in south-west Ethiopia. This research thus reveals that tourism actors agreed that they perceive high-quality service, high revenues, and big data generation as major opportunities when it comes to digitalization in the tourism industry in the study area. In the study, the identified dependent variable, i.e., the digital future of tourism, and the independent variables, i.e., the online booking system, social media, online reviews, e-banking and payment systems, and artificial intelligence, were assumed to positively influence the digital transformation of the tourism industry in south-west Ethiopia. The study, on the other hand, produces a wide range of results based on multiple linear regression analysis. Based on the findings, it is highly recommended that knowledge creation regarding digitalization occur at local levels, as info sessions and social activism on the benefits of digitalisation could enhance the digital mindset of tourism actors